Rated 4.5 / 5 stars2014-04-10 09:06:16

Awesome! Really sets all the moods for the things you are listing! Amazingly good samples, mixing and quality. I would love to know what software you use and how the colaboration worked in more detail? :)

We used Facebook as a means of communication, as we were already using it. It was also a way to get chatting as our times are different. When starting off was a small challenge for us, as Jacob uses Digital Performer and I still use FLStudio. It meant when sharing files it wasn't simple as sending over a production file like an .flp or anything like that. So from early days before the official date of the AIM we decided on the image. Once we chose from a lot of variety we discussed what instruments we would be using and why they were most appropriate to portray the scene and scenarios to the best of our ability, or to give us a chance at using something new. We sent a lot of music references back and forward too, disregarding some, and agreeing to others. It's was quite a mix of taste as I'm a very 'cliche hollywood' composer, whereas Jacob is spectacular at composing for film and on screen syncing relating to what happens, rather than just getting louder and more dramatic for no reason. It was sorta like thinking about the whole Hans Zimmer - James Newton Howard relationship. At first you just think...how in earth is this going to work?

When listening to Jacobs music, in my opinion he has the ability to create undertones and intricate delicacies that were perfect for the image and it was something we really wanted to incorporate from looking at the art. We also spoke about incorporating a grandness aspect to it though, to bring out the drama and significance of the character at the right times, while also providing "a song" for the listener to latch onto.

We never once said that we're using 'this instrument' and nothing other, but we alluded to string libraries, brass libraries, woodwinds and effects. Jacob's mixing is superior to mine, and so was his spacial settings. So he gave me information on how he had set up things so that when we blended it was fitting to each other. He was helpful to send me screenshots of his reverb settings and talk about setups he had used. Also in return I shared what I felt was useful too. Whether it was about my sample choice or whatever. Without saying to each other it was apparent we both had to share our 'little secrets' to make it work, to make sure consistency was maintained. From a personal perspective, he's taught me loads.

When composing we would create a part of the music, and send it to the other person, sometimes with midi information too. Most of the time I judged by ear, and Jacob could just tell the key it was in. We'd also say what tempo the part of the track was in so the other could compose on top, and from that section. Throughout the entire project we spoke about the narrative which was driving the music, and even though we've given little indication of this through the description we had visualized a lot more, but left the rest to the listeners imagination. We sent mp3s to each other for composing our parts through facebook for quickness, but at the end, because we knew what our music was leading on to, we finished them off more appropriately and fine tuned it. I then sent him high quality WAV of what I had done. Jacob then mixed and gave it a mastered touch. Sent me back a Wav and Mp3 and done!

We had discussed so much, developing back and forth, it was sad to see it actually end. But I'm sure we'll do something again in the future!